Could Nearby Star-forming Galaxies Light Up the Pointlike Neutrino Sky?

Star-forming and starburst galaxies, which are well-known cosmic-ray reservoirs, are expected to emit gamma-rays and neutrinos predominantly via hadronic collisions. In this Letter, we analyze the 10 yr Fermi-LAT spectral energy distributions of 13 nearby galaxies by means of a physical model which accounts for high-energy proton transport in starburst nuclei and includes the contribution of primary and secondary electrons. In particular, we test the hypothesis that the observed gamma-ray fluxes are mostly due to star-forming activity, in agreement with the available star formation rates coming from IR and UV observations. Through this observation-based approach, we determine the most likely neutrino counterpart from star-forming and starburst galaxies and quantitatively assess the ability of current and upcoming neutrino telescopes to detect them as pointlike sources. Remarkably, we find that the cores of the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Circinus galaxy are potentially observable by KM3NeT/ARCA with 6 yr of observation. Moreover, most of the nearby galaxies are likely to be just a factor of a few below the KM3NeT and IceCube-Gen2 pointlike sensitivities. After investigating the prospects for detection of gamma-rays above TeV energies from these sources, we conclude that the joint observations of high-energy neutrinos and gamma-rays with upcoming telescopes will be an objective test for our emission model and may provide compelling evidence of star-forming activity as a tracer of neutrino production.